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Share market continues to push higher

TIM PALMER: David Taylor joins me now for more in business and finance. David, BHP Billiton wasn't the only resources company reporting today.

DAVID TAYLOR: No Tim, earnings at one of Australia's biggest iron ore miners, Fortescue Metals, almost halved in the first six months of this financial year. First half net profit fell 40 per cent to $462 million.

Lower earnings are related to the weaker iron ore prices, but demand from Chinese steel mills is expected to pick up, so the company says. And over on the energy side, oil and gas company Woodside Petroleum has posted a record profit - for 2012, Woodside recorded a full year net profit of $2.89 billion, up 98 per cent on 2011.

The company says the profit jump has been driven by a 31 per cent increase in production across its north-west operations.

TIM PALMER: What about the weakness in advertising - Seven West Media also had figures today.

DAVID TAYLOR: That's right. They posted a $109 million first half loss on the back of big write-downs so the company says it took a $260 million hit from devaluing its magazine business and its stake in the Yahoo Seven website. The losses also of course are related to weakness in the advertising market, redundancies and restructuring costs.

TIM PALMER: Plenty of redundancies in that sector. Finally, the broader market?

DAVID TAYLOR: Interesting one today, Tim. The resources sector weighed on the market after the BHP result. BHP Billiton lost 1 per cent, Rio Tinto lost 1.5 per cent, but consumer staples stocks Woolies and Wesfarmers did drive the market higher; Woolies up 2 per cent, Wesfarmers up 1 per cent.

The banks also contributed to the result, Commonwealth Bank up 1.2 per cent to $66.85. The All Ords up 13 points, or a quarter of a per cent, to 5,114.